Perimeter weighted iron golf club heads have become increasingly popular with golfers since they were first introduced in the 1980's. The cavity-back iron golf club head moved most of the weight that was located behind the face of the golf club out to the perimeter of the golf club, which enlarged the “sweet spot” of the golf club and made the golf club more forgiving on “off-center” hits as compared to the traditional irons. Also, by moving the weight towards the perimeter, the thickness of the faces of the cavity back iron golf clubs became uniform and relatively thin. This resulted in a significant increase in the amount of carry in the case of off-center hits (i.e., where the golf ball is struck at a location other than the sweet spot) especially toward the toe area of the face. Unfortunately, this also resulted in a reduction in solid feel.
Another problem with traditional cavity-back iron golf clubs is that little of the weight is offset from the face portion. As a result, the center of gravity (COG) depth was not very great. One attempt to overcome this problem was to “offset” the clubface from the shaft portion, thereby placing the majority of the weight behind the shaft axis. Although the offset of the golf club increased the COG depth, it made the club unattractive to the golfer, especially those golfers who preferred the look of the traditional irons.
Yet another problem with traditional cavity-back iron golf clubs is that they have been produced by investment cast methods, since their unusual shape (i.e., perimeter weighting and offset) made them difficult and expensive to produce through forging. Unfortunately, making iron golf club heads using investment cast methods tends to makes the clubs have a distinctive “harder feel” than the traditional “soft feel” of forged carbon steel irons, which most players traditionally favor.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for an iron golf club head that has the improved playability properties of cavity-back golf clubs, while retaining the look and characteristics of traditional forged iron golf clubs. In particular, there is a need for a forged iron golf club head that provides an increased center of gravity depth, and a large sweet spot. Examples of such golf club heads are disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,022,028, which is incorporated herein in its entirety as if fully set forth below. Other examples are provided by the various embodiments of the present invention.